Cory Booker: I haven’t talked to Frank Lautenberg

Democratic Newark Mayor Cory Booker — who recently announced he plans to run for Frank Lautenberg’s seat — said Monday that he hasn’t been able to speak to New Jersey’s senior senator about a potential campaign.

“I’m focusing on my job for now, and I hope to talk to him. We’ve reached out to him a number of times. In fact, I had a planned trip going down to meet with him and unfortunately with a number of the challenges going down in Washington he had to cancel the meeting,” Booker said on CNN’s “Starting Point.”

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“I want to give him the space to make his decision. I’ve announced my intention to run, but the reality is we’ve got a good senator. He’s been loyal, he’s been there for a long time and I think that he’s got a decision to make. So I’m focusing on my job now and I hope to talk to him,”

“You know, I think it’s too early to even talk about those hypotheticals because he hasn’t made his decision yet,” Booker said on CNN.

One person he won’t be going up against: GOP New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Booker said he opted not to challenge Christie in a gubernatorial run because he wants to finish out the initiatives he started in Newark.

“If I left the helm now or if I got into a tough fight with Chris Christie, [it] would all come to a screeching halt,” Booker said on CNN.

He added: “I swore an oath to do my job, and I would hate to leave early to chase after another job.”